Calif. first responders practice emergency scenario drills

Scenarios include a terrorist intrusion at a nuclear center, college campus shooting, and a natural disaster. Drills are estimated to be the largest training exercise in the United States.

By Rachel CohenThe Contra Costa Times

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, Calif. — When the Oakland hills fire burned through more than 3,400 homes and killed 25 people in 1991, it was a test of how well law enforcement agencies could communicate with each other in the field.

Now, many of the public safety professionals who battled that blaze are retired, and many of today's younger members don't recall the region's last major natural disaster.